Category Archive: Hardware

Aug
07
2011

Whitebox ESXi

I remember the first time I got my hands on VMware ESXi. It was the 3.5 version and it quickly became apparent to me that this was the feature. Long gone was the chubby ESX COS which I used before. Of course, having a full COS (Linux) had its benefits, but it did little to …

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Jun
10
2009

Dell PowerEdge R200 and ESXi 4.0

I promised some more details on the R200 and ESXi 4.0.

Jun
10
2009

New host: Dell PowerEdge R710

Dell PowerEdge R710

So, it was time to make the virtualization a bit more serious and the same time solve my hosting problem. After a quick survey of the hardware available, I bought a Dell PowerEdge R710:

May
23
2009

Dell R200 and vSphere

Yes, the Dell PowerEdge R200 runs vSphere/VMware ESXi 4.0. More details to come as I revive this blog :-)

Aug
29
2008

ESXi and the R200

I’m getting some comments about the “Can’t write to device” errors. At first I thought it might be a problem with 3.5U2 since I had no problems installing the 3.5U1 on the R200, but my reinstall with 3.5U2 went without a hitch. So, here are some other ideas: Bad disk drive / disk drive firmware …

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Aug
18
2008

My project

So, ok, the new semester started today. As always, I’m a bit lazy on the first day so I took the opportunity to work from home instead of going to school. It turned out be a rather ok day when I finally got out of bed. I’ve made a quick front page and a suggestion …

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Jul
31
2008

Serial Console on VMWare ESX(i)

Just to follow up on the post about Serial console over IPMI: The ESX(i) supports serial console, but you have to configure it under “Configuration –> Advanced Settings –> VMKernel –> Boot”. I didn’t get a real console on the VMware ESXi (I didn’t try to hard neither), but I got the debug output from …

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Jul
31
2008

Serial console over IPMI

The PowerEdge R200 is equiped with an IPMI controller which enables you to control power settings and read sensors over LAN. The version on the R200 is 1.5 which is rather old and outdated, but it does the job. One of the more hidden features of the IPMI controller is the ability to support serial …

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Jul
21
2008

Hot hot hot…

As said earlier, our server room is not equiped with the latest and most powerful cooling equipment available. As it is summer in Norway, the temperature in the room could get above 35C. This room is not optimal, but it is the best solution available to me. So, in order to track the temperature changes …

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Jul
05
2008

Connecting the pieces…

lab.frode.biz

After installing ESXi to the PE R200 servers and doing some initial testing it was time to move the servers to their new home. We have a primitive server room here at our hall of residence which I am happily abusing. I say primitive since there are no rack cabinets installed and the cooling is …

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